15 Things From The '90s That Actually Sucked, According To People Who Experienced Them Firsthand

Yahoo

a day ago

Recently, I asked the BuzzFeed Community about '90s things people are super nostalgic for — even though they weren't actually that great.
Here are 15 of their top responses:
1."The freedom to smoke pretty much anywhere. Sounds great in theory, but goddamn, everyone and everything reeked of cigarettes all the time."
—keetawnandon
2."Having to run back to the couch in order to not miss the TV show."
—Anonymous, 41, Denver, CO
3."Fruit Stripe gum. Tastes great…for a few seconds."
—ka3a4ka
4."Furbies! Yes, they were cute, and everyone wanted them, but when they woke you up in the middle of the night, they ended up in the laundry room or somewhere they couldn't find you! My mom eventually made us get rid of them all!"
—Anonymous, 33, MN
5."I know some wish for a simpler time, but if you didn't have cable, it was slim pickings for entertainment unless you were able to go to Blockbuster regularly. Often, you just made do with the three or four VHS tapes you had, or what you could get from rabbit ears. Nowadays, despite it being overwhelming at times due to choice, I can usually find something to watch, even if I have already seen it."
—bittermoon7351
"It was even worse if you lived somewhere far from civilization. Where I grew up in Ireland, we only had two channels on the TV (unless it got too windy, then we had none). There was one shop in the village that rented videos, but rarely anything new and not much of a selection, so by the time I was a teenager, we'd probably rented all of them more than once."
—caelesto
6."While housing and food prices were much cheaper, technology of any sort was a lot more expensive. Small, heavy tube televisions would cost hundreds more than a large 4K panel today, and computers would cost as much as a car, and be rendered obsolete within months."
—the_toast_of_you
7."Video games. Don't get me wrong, some were great, but most are not anymore. They were really hard, so you couldn't finish them in a single rental (thank you, Blockbuster). Or, if you could handle the difficulty, the games were short and could be finished in just a few hours. The controls weren't as good as you might remember they were either."
—Anonymous
8."Lack of smartphones. I like being able to answer any question I have at any moment it arises. I like being able to call a family member in an emergency at any time, and there's a high chance they'll answer. I like looking at memes and watching videos. Admittedly, I am too young to remember a time before cell phones, but I do remember a time before smartphones, and I do prefer the latter."
—sadiemendeztgm
9."Austin Powers."
—Anonymous, 46 Essex, UK
10."ALL of the fashion. Flared jeans that soak up to your knee the second it rains, jelly sandals that basically give you trench foot, skintight polyester tube tops that ride up, then down, then up and down somehow, zig-zag hair parts that take an hour to perfect, and don't get me started on hair crimping…it's all bad. Please learn from our mistakes, children!"
—Anonymous, 35, Boston
11."Having to go to your friend's house in an attempt to find them."
—Anonymous, 35, AK
12."I was only five when the decade ended, so I have a little less '90s experience than older Millennials. However, it was much harder to find the answers to your questions. You'd discuss things with friends or family, and then just end on a cliffhanger. Or my mom would drop her catchphrase of, 'Look it up in the encyclopedia.' Sure, encyclopedias were full of a lot of topics, but there wasn't much depth. Sometimes you didn't even quite know what to look up, since your encyclopedic search was so limited."
—Anonymous, 31, Pikesville, MD
13."Grunge music absolutely sucks and is so depressing."
—Anonymous, 55 New Hampshire
"I hate grunge. I hated it then, and I hate it now. That whiny-ass male-dominated genre of music was the worst. All melodic and catchy music, anything with dance vibes or synths was banished from alt radio almost overnight. Depeche Mode? Gone. You wanna hear Brit Pop? Nope. All Nirvana and Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. Our local alt music station STILL plays mostly grunge. If I hear another Alice In Chains song…"
—Anonymous, 50, SoCal
14."I was 14 when 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' dropped. The video was sooooo different than anything else showing on MTV. Holy shit, was it powerful. It seemed like overnight, everybody looked like they quit bathing and only owned flannel."
—Anonymous
15.And finally: "Limp Bizkit. They made music for angry 15-year-old boys, who didn't even know what they were angry at."
—Anonymous, 49, NJ
What's something about the '90s you definitely don't miss? Tell us all about it in the comments or the anonymous comments box below!
Note: Some responses have been edited for length/clarity.